The centric model of career counseling was developed for use in employment counseling and takes into account psychological, social, and economic factors. Four developmental phases are used to describe movement within the centric model. The initial phase, readiness, establishes the working alliance between the counselor and the client. Clients must…

Faculty development programs encompass a wide range of activities and allow community college faculty to improve instructional material and delivery and keep the spark of creativity and enthusiasm alive under pressures from decreasing budgets and heavier workloads. A recent program at Borough of Manhattan Community College focused on student needs…

The increased use of part-time faculty in community colleges has left in its wake a large literature on the problems posed by heavy reliance on part-time faculty and on the need to address these problems through staff development programs. Four approaches have been used by community colleges to deal with the staff development needs of their…

Three major purposes have been proposed for Professional Development Schools: (1) to improve education of prospective and practicing teachers; (2) to strengthen knowledge and practice in teaching; and (3) to strengthen the profession of teaching by serving as models of promising and productive structural relations. At present there is neither a…

The efforts of student affairs aimed at improving quality of life, integrating new student groups, and attracting and retaining students are becoming critical to colleges and universities. Student affairs organizations can respond to the changing conditions and take a leadership role in new institutional strategies; they can become…

Although basic skills and English language instruction are often viewed as real needs at the workplace, few companies provide this for their workers. Those that do are motivated by one or more of these factors: product quality improvement, commitment of top management to training and education, or the sales effort of an educational provider. Those…

The digest is based on a full length report (with the same title) on postsecondary developmental programs. The full report provides a definitive review of the literature and institutional practice on the topic. Postsecondary developmental programs at institutions of higher education encompass a variety of courses and services that are conducted to…

This digest focuses on the evolution of beginning teacher induction programs over the past two decades, and discusses the reasons why such programs are essential to the professional development of teachers. An overview is presented of existing induction programs, and observed outcomes of these programs are briefly discussed. In considering what…

This digest describes teacher mentoring and its different applications. A list of 10 characteristics and activities inherent in any mentor-protege relationship is provided. A discussion is presented on the ways that mentoring, an essentally informal process, has been formalized in business firms and school systems. In considering the benefits that…

Since 80% of school leavers drop out with a "C" or higher grade average, poor performance is seldom the issue. This digest outlines a program that uses a comprehensive life-career focus to address youths' continuing learning needs. The program was developed to provide high-school-aged youth the skills, knowledge, and motivation necessary…

The role of the syllabus in second language teaching is described, distinguishing six major types of syllabi and how they might be implemented in various teaching situations. The foreign language teaching syllabus involves both the integration of subject matter (what to talk about) and linguistic matter (how to talk about it). Choices of syllabi…

This ERIC Digest examines some of the trends and issues in academic information systems design and describes the policies of several universities that are taking creative advantage of these systems as educational tools. The current emphasis on microcomputers in campus information networks instead of terminals connected to a mainframe computer is…

Not for profit community college foundations play a major role in overall resource development. Because foundations are legally and organizationally independent of the college, they are able to promote the well-being of the college without the statutory limits imposed by the governing board and staff. Foundation money is not restricted to basic…

This ERIC digest discusses the National Standards for Civics and Government for students from grades K-12. The Standards are organized around five central questions dealing with the following subjects: (1) the nature and necessity of government; (2) the foundations of American constitutionalism; (3) the functioning of American government and the…

Factors that have led to post-tenure evaluation of faculty are considered, along with concerns that should be examined before designing a post-tenure review process. Post-tenure evaluation is not in opposition to the principle of tenure and to policy statements about tenure issued by the American Association of University Professors, provided that…